Have you ever walked past one of those dinosaur eggs in the produce department and wondered what the heck it was? Or how on earth you would eat it? Those dinosaur eggs are actually a jackfruit!

Jackfruit is the largest tree-grown fruit and can weigh as much as 80 pounds! Most of the ones you’ll find in our stores are right around 20 pounds though, and a lot of times you can find them cut down into much more manageable slices.

Jackfruits are one of my favorite fruits to talk about because there are so many interesting things about them. A few fun facts I’ve learned about them are:

• If you ate a whole jackfruit, you would have enough nutrition in your body to not have
  to eat for two days.
• Other than the core and the skin, everything else is edible. (Some parts are less desirable as they can be bitter.)
• Jackfruits with brown skins are riper. Ones with green skins have a paler fruit
  inside and have a less powerful flavor. Green ones are more commonly used in cooking since they take on the flavor of everything else.
• A ripe jackfruit should give off a sweet smell and yield to gentle pressure.
• They are rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Low in calories and sodium and do not contain any cholesterol or unhealthy fats.
• You can freeze jackfruit pods.
• Jackfruit seeds, when cooked down, taste similar to a potato, but have more nutrients than potatoes do.

When cutting a jackfruit, I like to start by cutting it into 8 pieces. It makes it much more manageable and easier to get the core out so you can access the fruit pods and seeds. Although it takes a little time to do, it’s actually much easier than you would think. Check out the video above to see just how easy it is!

Bridget,
Farmer’s Market Manager
Isanti, MN